31 'I Ulstonj of Astronomy for the Year lSu5. 



compared with the degree measured in Peru. It, is, hovf-* 

 ever, so difficult to admit an error of such magnitude, that 

 we liave requested information from Sweden on this snhjeet. 



M. Mechain set out on the SGth of April 18<)3 for Spain, 

 to continue the meridian of France to the spth degree of 

 latitude, that is to irax , as far as the Balearian islands. He 

 was accompanied bv Mechain junior, Dei^auche jimior, and 

 they were joined by JM. Chaix, an able Spanish astronomer. 



I gave him an excellent cii;cle of IQ inches radius, made 

 by Lenoir ; a telescope of a large aperture was added to it : 

 there are twelve large reverberators, and he \\ ill be able to 

 contimie his triangles to Majorca and Ivica, though at the 

 distance of 930tK) toises from the coast of Catalonia, in the 

 months of January, Februarv, and March, which are those 

 most favourable for such observations. In the mean time 

 he has formed six subsidiary triangles between Barcelona 

 and Tortosa, as detailed in the Moniteur of iSoven\ber 15. 

 But in the midst of storms and tempests, surrounded by 

 thunder, and sleeping under a tent upon straw, he has been 

 obliged, for the purpose of con)pleting his operations, to 

 cause wooden huts to be constructed on sunnnits the cli- 

 mate of which is dreadful. On the 27th of October he was 

 on the highest peaks of Montserrat for his last triangle. On 

 the 23d of November the whole were finished; but the brig 

 destined 'to carry him to the Balearian islands, having lost 

 twenty men by the yellow fever which broke out at Malaga, 

 was obliged to perform (]uarantine, and Mechain could not 

 proceed thither, though the court of Spain had given the 

 nece&sary orders. At length on the 8th of Januarv he set 

 out for Ivica, where he will conmience his o'peratiuns. It 

 seems to be determined that the war shall not prevent this 

 useful labour. By these means we shall have an exact mea- 

 surement of 12 degrees, the mean of which will be the 45th 

 degree, the one we are most interested to know, to verify 

 still better our vmiversal measure and the magnitude of the 

 earth. 



C. Chaptal, our learned mini;:ter, to whom all the arts 

 and sciences are under daily obligations, and by whom tlie 

 College de France has been revived, \\ islied also to dispense 

 to astronomy the favours of an enlightened government of 

 vvliich he is the organ. 



The observatory has received some new acquisitions. On 

 the 1 7th of August a meridian telescope eight feet long and 

 of four inches aperture, and an axis of 46 inches, made at 

 London by the celebrated Ramsden, was erected, and on 



the 



